New Tight Ends Face Big Adjustments After Joining Razorbacks

From player size to coaching style, nearly everything is new experience for revamped position room

Author:
Daniel Shi
Publish date:
Aug 14, 2023 6:07 PM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Razorback tight end room is full of transfers and new faces. Playing under the bright lights of the SEC is no ordinary beast, but it hasn’t taken long to get comfortable.

“Have you ever interacted with Coach Pittman?” Louisville senior transfer tight end Francis Sherman said with a smile on his face.

It’s not just the head coach who’s left an indelible impact on all the tight ends as they prepare to see their first game action in a Razorback uniform this season. Morgan Turner is in his first season as Razorbacks tight ends coach after 13 years at Stanford, where he molded NFL tight ends Zach Ertz and Dalton Schultz, among others during his tenure.

“He’s (Coach Turner) more of a teacher instead of a yeller,” North Texas transfer Var’keyes Gumms said. “He teaches first.”

Turner’s unique style has already led to philosophical changes while unlocking more passion.

“I’m not big on the hype stuff,” Turner said. “I want them to get to know me, who I am, what I believe, and how I teach.”

In a short amount of time, Turner has turned Sherman from someone who hated the cerebral side of football to someone who enjoys it.

“I honestly don’t know how Coach Turner did it,” Sherman said. “The way that he teaches. He goes from such small details and all of a sudden it clicks and you see the whole picture. I’ve just fallen in love with it. It’s not like the meetings where they drag on. All of a sudden the horn goes off and an hour has gone by.”

Sherman lists at the exact height and weight as quarterback KJ Jefferson at 6-foot-3 and 247 pounds. However, it wasn’t just his captain’s sheer size that impressed him.

“It’s weird seeing a quarterback bigger than me,” Sherman said. “Earlier on in summer, I didn’t really know what I was doing. Every time I asked him, he told me easily what to do. He knows exactly what to do. He wasn’t demeaning about it. He understood that I’ve been here for a week and a half and I didn’t know anybody.

Although Pittman wasn’t shy stating his reservations of where his tight end room stood early in camp, with good coaching and a veteran leader at the helm playing quarterback, they may very well be up to par by the time the Razorbacks take the field for the season opener.

“With what we had at tight end and the additions we had come in, I think we’re gonna be just fine,” Pittman said. “I feel a lot better about tight end than I did when coming into camp.”